


Common Grounds

by floralsuitian



Category: Shameless - Fandom
Genre: F/F, F/M, Future Fic, Ian and Mickey - Freeform, Lip and Ian, Lip and Tami, M/M, Mickey's Birthday, Relationship Talk, Sandy and Debbie, Tami and Mickey, deep convos, domestic relationships, soft scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:47:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23581075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floralsuitian/pseuds/floralsuitian
Summary: Two years in the future, the Gallaghers throw a surprise birthday party for Mickey, who ends up in a deep and heavy conversation with Tami, who in the end, reminds him a lot of himself.
Relationships: Gallavich - Relationship, Gallietti
Comments: 10
Kudos: 143





	Common Grounds

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there!!! Here's a really special fic that I had so much fun writing. I had always enjoyed the thought of Mickey and Tami sitting around, talking and watching Lip and Ian, while they reminisced on how they met them. So this happened, and it was a lot of fun to write, especially from Tami's POV. I've never written her before, and writing from Mickey's POV is always really fun for me hehe  
> I hope you enjoy this little snapshot of their lives two years in the future (I also decided to make it Mickey's bday, cause it seemed fitting hehe) please leave kudos and comments and other nice things if you'd like. It would mean the world to me.

**_~August 10, 2022~_ **

The house was abustle again. 7-year-old Franny runs through the living room with a bag of streamers after Debbie told her to leave them on the counter. She gave up and decided she probably only needed one bag of the streamers anyway. 

Sandy comes down from upstairs, kissing Debbie’s cheek and smiling against it. 13-year-old Liam grabs Franny around the middle, causing her to giggle as he tickles her sides. Debbie smiles, then looks over to Sandy, who’s taking the pizza and cake from the freezer. She smiles at her this time, looking back and forth between her daughter and girlfriend, and youngest brother. She hums, walking over to the kitchen table to set up for Mickey’s birthday dinner. He kept insisting he didn’t want anything special (“I’m turning 28, not 40”), but Ian asked Debbie if her and Sandy could put something together for him anyways, while he took him out for the day to distract him. 

Carl comes in the door with beer, snacks, and some juice for Franny and Liam, taking his work boots off by the stairs and walking over to the kitchen. Sandy greets him with a ruffle to his head, Carl sticking his tongue out at her as he hugs Debbie and sets the contents down on the kitchen table. 

“Lip and Tami here yet?”, Carl asks, taking his jacket off and hanging it on the hook by the back door. 

“Should be here in a little bit. Ian just texted. Said they’re on their way back from the city”, Debbie informs him. Carl steals a chip from a bag, earning a slab to the back of his hand from Debbie. He flips her off, going back to the living room to play with his niece. Franny hands Carl some of the streamers, tells him that “I’m wrapping up Uncle Liam with it”, and Carl cracks up, watching as Liam shakes his head, his whole body becoming consumed by rainbow streamers. 

Lip comes in the door moments later, Freddie on his hip and Tami following close behind them. Lip immediately cracks up upon seeing Liam covered in the streamers; Carl tells him “We’re wrapping up Uncle Liam”, and he laughs harder. He hands Freddie to Carl, who takes him gracefully and throws him up in the air gently, his little face scrunching up in a fit of laughter. Tami smiles at her son and brother-in-law as Carl gives him a sloppy kiss to his cheek, earning another gurgly giggle from the 2-year-old. 

Lip hugs Sandy and Debbie in the kitchen, helps finish the setup of the food and decorations for Mickey just as Debbie gets a text from Ian. 

“Fuck, they’re home”, she says frantically. She tries to get Franny to unwrap Liam and tells her to come sit at the table, while Sandy takes care of the pizza and sets the cake back in the freezer after cutting it. Lip waits by the front door so they can surprise Mickey and quiets the house as soon as he hears Ian’s laughter at the base of the stairs. The front door opens, revealing a very giggly Mickey and Ian, and suddenly a loud “Surprise!” erupts through the living room. Ian smiles at his husband and laughs lightly; Mickey looks instantly annoyed, but smiles anyways, leaning up to place a gentle kiss to Ian’s mouth. 

“Happy birthday”, he says against Mickey’s lips so only he can hear.

“Sneaky bastard”, he kisses him again then walks fully into the living room, greeted by hugs and more ‘happy birthdays’ from his family. Ian follows close behind with Lip, standing in the middle of the living room with him for a moment. Lip pats him on the back, earning a soft chuckle from Ian. 

“He’s annoyed”, Ian says, taking his jacket off and tossing it to the couch. Lip chuckles, pulls a cigarette from the carton in his pocket. He hands one to Ian, lighting it for him. 

“Nahh, think he’s just overwhelmed. You know how he is”, Lip says, exhaling a small puff. Ian shrugs, stares at his husband who’s holding Freddie on his lap, talking to Carl and Tami, and laughing.

“Never seen you as happy as you are when you’re with him, ya know”, Lip says, staring at his brother. Ian looks back to him, smiling.

“‘Specially this last year”.

“Yeah….it’s been good, ya know? And I know you know this already….but, I love him. He’s kind of the best thing that’s ever happened to me”. 

Ian sniffles, blows a puff of smoke from his cigarette. Lip smiles, pulls him in for a tight hug. 

“He takes care of you. That’s the most important thing to me, alright?”, Lip tells him; Ian nods, burying his nose in Lip’s neck. 

“I love you, man”, Ian says, pulling away from their embrace, taking his older brother’s face in his hands. Lip smiles at him again, gently slaps Ian’s face as they finish their cigarettes, watching their family members some more before joining them for some cake and pizza.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kev and Vee, and the kids, showed up an hour later, bringing a gift for Mickey, even though he told them not to. Ian thanked them for him, going back to hanging out with Franny and Debbie on the living room floor. 

Mickey sat in the kitchen drinking a beer, watching his husband play with his niece and sister, and smiled gently. Tami comes to sit next to him, grabbing a beer from the box on the table, popping it open with the lip of the table. Mickey chuckles; maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. 

“So”, she begins, tapping Mickey with the tip of her beer bottle, “we don’t talk much at these things”.

Mickey takes a sip of his beer, nodding but not turning to face her. 

“Sorry ‘bout that”.

“Nahh, don’t worry about it. I get it”. 

This time, Mickey does look at her, furrowing his eyebrows at her.

“Get what?”

“We’re basically in-laws. Now, Lip and I aren’t married yet, but we have a kid, and that’s basically enough. Now you and Ian….tell me about that”, she smiles, genuinely interested in wondering how they ended up together.

“What’s there to tell?”, Mickey’s voice is soft; he plays with the rim of his bottle, and Tami gently knocks him with her shoulder and he chuckles.

“I don’t know, like….how did you meet, and what was it like to hold his hand for the first time? Shit like that”, she laughs.

“Alright, alright”. Mickey takes another long look at Ian before telling Tami the (happier) details of their relationship. 

“When we….hooked up for the first time, I wasn’t….out yet. And ya know, that took a long time for me to come to terms with. But…”, he trails off for a moment, taking another sip of his beer before continuing. 

“I knew I loved him two weeks into us being ‘together’, or whatever the hell it was at that time. I fuckin’ knew the minute he came into my life, he was it for me”. 

Tami smiles, looks at Ian as Mickey sniffles. 

“He was my first kiss”. Mickey laughs gently, as if he’s never told anyone that before. To be honest, he hasn’t really. He doesn’t even remember telling Mandy about it. 

“He was my first….guy”. 

“Ya know, I kissed a girl for the first time when I was fifteen”, Tami giggles, taking another sip of her beer. 

“I didn’t like it very much, but I also didn’t hate it”. 

Mickey laughs at that, rubs his nose with his knuckle as he usually does when he feels nervous. 

“How the fuck did you meet Lip?”, Mickey asks, fiddling with his wedding band on his finger. 

“Brad, actually. He’s married to my sister, and he was Brad’s best man at their wedding. We….hooked up in the closet”. 

Mickey’s eyes widen and he snorts.

“Yeah”, she says, putting her hair up in a ponytail. Mickey shakes his head, takes another swig of his beer. 

“And even though he was kind of an ass at times….there was something about him. He was….charming and caring…..and yeah, he was a recovering alcoholic when I met him, and I gave him shit for it. But Lip would never hurt me, or Fred. He cares about the people in his life and that’s what drew me to him, I guess”.

“Ever think you’d be having a kid with him?”

“Nope”. 

They both laugh at that. Lip comes into the living room a few minutes later, sitting next to Debbie on the couch.

“But I don’t regret it”.

Mickey nods, laying back in his chair.

“You ever regret anything with Ian?”

“Sometimes”, Mickey says softly. Tami nods gently, smiles for the millionth time. 

“Anything you wish you could do over?”

Mickey’s silent for a moment before speaking again. 

“When we were kids, like I said, I hid my sexuality to protect myself. And him, too, I guess”. 

Ian laughs at something Kev said in the other room. Mickey smiles.

“But mostly myself. I mean, fuck, we were two gay guys livin’ on the South Side. Gay marriage wasn’t even legal when we were hooking up”.

“When did you realize it was more than just hook ups and sex?”, Tami asks softly, as if she’s afraid she’s opened up old wounds that Mickey’s tried to cover up.

“I knew I wanted to be with him the moment Frank caught us together. And I treated him like shit, cause I was scared of my….dad finding out”.

Tami nods, listening intently.

“I knew I was in love with him after I kissed him the first time. I knew it when I had to marry someone that wasn’t him. I knew when we….made love for the first time, the first time he spent the night with me”. 

Mickey can feel himself tearing up as Tami rests her hand on his shoulder to relax him. He clears his throat to hide it and sets his beer bottle down on the kitchen table. He runs his hand through his hair, trying to relax himself again.

“Don’t really know what it was that made me fall for him, but…. _ fuck _ , he’s made me a better person. He makes me feel good….ya know?” 

Mickey looks up at Tami when he finishes, her lips curved into a side smile. She thinks silently to herself about how she never had a conversation with Mickey like this before. Wonders how they’ve gone two years without really having deep meaningful “in law” conversations. She’s glad they finally have though, is glad that Mickey felt comfortable enough to tell her about his past and about everything that’s made him who he is today.

“Lip makes me feel that way”, she says quietly, “alive and happy. Makes me feel like a teenager again sometimes”. 

Mickey chuckles, smiles a crooked smile as well, then makes eye contact with Ian across the room.He feels himself sitting up straighter when he could see Ian mouth “I love you” to him. He mouths it back, Ian giving him a small wink, then goes back to talking to Kev and Lip while Debbie drinks a beer with Carl on the stairs. Sandy and Vee are sitting on the floor coloring with the girls while Liam is holding a sleeping Freddie in his lap. 

“Ian has this….sensitive side that I always loved about him. He’s….quiet when he wants to be and keeps to himself, always sees the good in everyone, even when the world’s gone to shit”.

Tami stares at him as he talks about Ian like he’s the fucking sun.

“But then….he can be sexy, and vulnerable. And just….so fucking beautiful. And I never thought I would ever be saying any of this shit out loud”, he laughs, turning to look at Tami, who’s looking at him with the biggest smile on her face. 

“He’s my best friend….ya know?’

Tami takes another drink of her beer, sets it on the table next to Mickey’s. She reaches over, takes Mickey’s hand in hers; Mickey looks shocked as she does, but he squeezes her hand anyways.

“He loves you so much, you know?” 

Mickey nods gently, looks down at his and Tami’s hands. 

“The way he talks about you, the way you talk about him….it’s really fucking poetic”, Tami chuckles as Mickey looks back over to Ian in the other room for the thousandth time in the last few minutes.

“You’ve both been through a helluva lot more than I ever have, but I get it. It all led to where you both are now, ya know?”

Mickey nods, makes eye contact with his brother-in-law’s okay (alright, more than okay) girlfriend. 

“You know, Lip and I….we have shit too. No one is perfect, we’re all human beings”.

“Ya know, you’re alright. I know I’ve been an asshole to you in the past, and I’m….sorry about that”. 

“I’m also an asshole”, she squeezes Mickey’s hand again, lets go, then picks up her beer from the table again. 

“Probably why we get along”, she winks at him, Mickey laughs. He grabs his beer off the table; they knock the bottles together in a toast, then both take a drink. Both of them look over to see Lip and Ian laughing at something Vee said about Kev, and Sandy is literally rolling on the floor in a fit of laughter. Tami and Mickey both smile at the sight, their family laughing and bullshitting, just how they like it.

“Think we should get back to ‘em?”, Mickey asks. Tami shrugs, pats Mickey on the back.

“Kind of liked hanging out with just you”.

Mickey shakes his head, then begins to stand from his chair, Tami mirrors him shortly after. Mickey looks back to the living room, sees Ian and Lip now pretending to box one another. Tami snorts at the sight.

“Fuckin’ Gallaghers”, Mickey whispers. 

“Fuckin’ Gallaghers”, Tami seconds, both of them laughing at they walk to the living room with everyone else. 

Lip and Ian are still messing with each other, but Ian immediately gives into the next punch when Mickey walks into the room. Carl bursts out laughing as Ian holds his arm in pain, walking over to Mickey who’s laughing with the rest of them. 

“You really let him take you down like that, huh?”, Mickey’s laughter dies down as he reaches up to cup Ian’s cheek gently.

“Well, if you hadn’t distracted me….”

Mickey smiles, kisses Ian on the lips gently. He smiles against his mouth, pecking his lips one last time before pulling away to rest his forehead against his. 

“Thank you. For today. For….all of this”, Mickey says to only Ian. Ian smiles, sits down on the floor, taking Mickey with him. 

“Of course. It’s your birthday. Wasn’t gonna let you do nothing all day”, Ian kisses his temple, intertwining their hands in his lap. Mickey smiles, looks up to see Lip and Tami holding Freddie so Liam could escape the sleeping kid, he assumes. 

“She talk your ear off?”, Ian says against Mickey’s temple when he kisses him there again. 

“Nahh. It was nice actually. We just talked shit about you and Lip the whole time”, he winks at Ian, who chuckles and rolls his eyes. 

“Sounds about right”, he says jokingly.

“Nahh, but she’s cool. She’s smart. Puts up with Lip’s shit, so I mean….”

Ian laughs lightly at that, squeezes Mickey’s hand gently. 

“And we’re both assholes, so….”

“Ahh, well then, there ya go”, Ian chuckles, looking over at Mickey again. They make eye contact and Mickey feels himself relaxing again. He leans forward, kisses Ian gently, and he hums against Mickey’s mouth. Ian cups his cheek, strokes his thumb over the skin of his cheek gently. 

“I love you”, Mickey whispers, as he kisses him in front of the entire household. Like they give a shit anyways. 

“Love you, happy birthday, my love”, Ian whispers, poking his tongue against Mickey’s lips. He sees his cheeks turn bright red at his use of the words ‘my love’, and Mickey rolls his eyes. Ian chuckles, pecks his lips one last time, before kissing his forehead, and joining in on the last of the festivities for Mickey’s birthday. 

Tami and Mickey end up making fun of everyone during their game of Cards Against Humanity, and Mickey swears Kev is cheating at one point (“How the hell do you cheat at Cards Against Humanity?”, Kev asks), and Lip keeps laughing at all the stupid cards which makes Tami smile. Ian keeps looking at Mickey every time he laughs; that eye-crinkle laugh that still makes his heart flutter, and he really wonders how he ended up getting so lucky to be married to his best friend. 

Lip looks at Tami at one point during the game, watches the way her eyes are bright and her smile is even brighter as she laughs with the rest of the family, and Lip thinks to himself how he might even marry her one day; he loves her enough to take that step with her.

He thinks about Ian and Mickey’s wedding, two years ago; how he was so happy to see them both at their happiest. He doesn’t remember ever seeing Ian as happy as he was the day he married Mickey. The only person who ever made sense to Ian was Mickey, and Lip felt that way with Tami. Tami was different from the other girls he had been with,  _ much  _ different, but a god different. Sure, they had had their fair share of road blocks, but didn’t all relationships? 

Mickey looks over to Ian in the midst of everything as well, watches the way his eyes light up while he’s playing the game, and even hears Ian mention to Kev and Vee, the new apartment that he and Mickey are thinking about moving into soon. Mickey smiles at the thought of living with Ian by himself; no one to walk in on them, no more siblings to bother them, no annoying parents or disruptions, just the two of them in their own space, finally, after two long years of shitty parole jobs and shitty parole officers. They were finally going to be able to move out and move on, something Mickey had been looking forward to since the day they got married. 

Tami smiles at Mickey looking at Ian, playfully shoves him with her shoulder, and he looks at her quickly. Her smile grows when he blushes for God knows how many times it was tonight, between her and Ian, and Kev and Carl making gay sex jokes all night just to mess with him. 

Mickey thinks about how he doesn’t really like his birthday, but he doesn’t hate it anymore. Especially now. Tami seemed to make him feel better about being more open with people other than Ian, and he respects her for not giving a shit what other people think about her. He’s glad they’ve finally found a place to meet in the middle, a common ground, a resting place for them both. And as the night wears on, Mickey falls more in love with Ian, and his family, which he didn’t think was possible, and feels like he can breathe again for the first time since Ian walked into his life twelve long years ago. He’s content, at ease, with the love of his life, and the people who’ve always accepted him for the person he is. And he’s sure that’s enough.


End file.
